The armoury was empty when Seren found him.
Kael sat on a wooden bench, his back against the wall, a sword across his knees. Not sharpening. Not cleaning. Just holding it. His eyes stared at nothing.
The torches had burned low. The hour was late. Everyone else was asleep—Aeron in his study, Theron in their chambers, the palace settled into the quiet of midnight.
But Kael had slipped away.
Seren closed the door behind her. "You’re brooding."
"I’m thinking."
"Sa thing, with you."
He didn’t smile. That was how she knew sothing was wrong.
She crossed the armoury and sat beside him on the bench. The sword lay between them, cold and still.
"Talk to ," she said.
Kael was silent for a long mont. His hands rested on the blade, his knuckles white.
"I’m afraid," he said finally. "Of the bond."
Seren’s heart clenched. "Afraid how?"
"It fades." His voice was rough. "The intensity. The fire. New mates always feel it; this burning need to be together, to touch, to breathe the sa air. And then, over ti, it settles. Becos comfortable. Becos... less."
He looked at her.
"I’ve seen it happen. Old couples who barely speak. Mates who stay together because the bond won’t let them leave, not because they still love each other. I don’t want that for us."
"Kael..."
"I don’t know who I am without the bond." His voice cracked. "Before you, I was just a soldier. Fighting. Killing. Following orders. The bond gave purpose. It gave *you*. And if it fades, if the fire goes out, I don’t know what’s left."
Seren took his hands.
The sword clattered to the floor. Neither of them looked at it.
"I’m afraid too," she said.
He stared at her. "You?"
"I was invisible before the bond. A servant. A ghost. The bond made seen. Made queen. Made *soone*." She squeezed his fingers. "What if that fades? What if one day I wake up and I’m just Seren again? The girl who scrubbed floors and made herself small?"
"That won’t happen."
"You don’t know that. Neither do I. That’s what fear *is*."
Kael pulled her closer, his forehead resting against hers. "I don’t want to lose this. Lose you."
"Then don’t."
"It’s not that simple."
"Yes, it is." She cupped his face in her hands. "The bond is magic. Magic fades. Magic changes. But choice? Choice is stronger than magic. We choose each other. Every day. Every morning when we wake up. Every night before we sleep."
He closed his eyes. "What if the bond stops pulling?"
"Then we push. We reach for each other. We remind ourselves why we fell in love in the first place."
"And if that’s not enough?"
"Then we find more reasons. We make more reasons. We build sothing that doesn’t need magic to hold it together."
Kael’s breath shuddered out of him.
"You make it sound simple."
"It’s not simple. It’s hard. It’s the hardest thing we’ll ever do." She stroked his cheek. "But we’ve done hard things before. We survived a war. We survived conspiracies. We survived Thorne, the north and Vesper. We can survive the bond settling."
"I’m scared of being ordinary."
Seren laughed softly. "Kael. You have never been ordinary. You’re a prince who trains human soldiers. You’re a warrior who gardens. You proposed to in front of the entire court with a rock from a battlefield."
"That rock was a gemstone."
"It was a rock. I love it."
He opened his eyes. They were wet.
"The other alphas—the old ones—they told that the bond is everything. That without it, mates are just strangers sharing a bed." His voice was barely a whisper. "I don’t want to be a stranger to you."
"Then be a friend. Be a partner. Be the man who holds when I’m scared and fights beside when I’m strong." She kissed his forehead. "The bond brought us together. But we keep us together. Not fate. *Us*."
They sat in silence for a while.
Kael’s hand found hers. His grip was tight, desperate, but slowly relaxed.
"My mother used to say that love was a choice," he said. "My father laughed at her. Said the bond decided everything. She died before I could ask her what she ant."
"What do you think she ant?"
Kael was quiet.
"I think she ant that the bond is a door. It opens. It lets you in. But walking through? Staying? Building a life on the other side? That’s not magic. That’s work."
Seren leaned against his shoulder. "That’s the wisest thing you’ve ever said."
"Don’t tell Theron. He’ll never let live it down."
"Your secret is safe with ."
They stayed in the armoury until the torches burned out.
When they finally walked back to their chambers, the sky was beginning to lighten. Kael’s arm was around her shoulders. Seren’s hand was on his waist.
"Thank you," he said.
"For what?"
"For being afraid with . Not just telling not to be."
"Fear shared is fear halved."
They stopped outside their door. Kael turned to face her.
"I choose you," he said. "Today. Tomorrow. Every day after. Not because the bond demands it. Because I want to."
Seren rose on her toes and kissed him.
"I choose you too. All of you. Always."
The bond humd; not with the fierce fire of new mates, but with sothing deeper. Sothing steadier.
*Choice,* Seren thought. *Not fate.*
*Choice.*
Inside, Theron was sprawled across the bed, one arm thrown over his eyes. Aeron sat in the chair by the window, a book open in his lap.
"Everything all right?" Aeron asked without looking up.
"Everything’s fine," Kael said. "Go back to your reading."
"You were gone for two hours."
"We were talking."
"In the armoury?"
"It’s a good place for talking."
Theron lifted his arm. "You were brooding again, weren’t you?"
"Shut up."
"That’s a yes."
"It’s a ’shut up.’"
Seren climbed onto the bed, settling between them. "We were choosing each other. That’s what we were doing."
Theron propped himself on an elbow. "You can do that here. Without the swords."
"The swords add atmosphere."
"Kael, put the sword away."
Kael looked down. He was still holding the blade he had taken from the armoury. He hadn’t even noticed.
He set it against the wall and climbed into bed.
The four of them lay tangled together as the sun rose.
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